Just bought this, It's orginaly a BSA MLE but seems to have been in Australia as it has a heavy Lithgow barrel and has been shortened. It seems this "range pattern MLE" was common in Australia between the wars to enable target rifles based on the MLE and SMLE to compete on equal terms in certain competitions. How it got to Australia and how it got back to the UK is a mystery at the moment. Had a chance to zero it at the weekend on a 50m range, it's accurate and has a very crisp single stage trigger, will need to get onto a longer range though, at 50m the diopter snags the top of the bolt dust cover.

Yes, the barrel is even shorter than other range pattern MLE's I've seen and the rear volley sight is replaced by the aperture sight. The barrel appears to be 1951 Lithgow H so I assume the original shortened MLE barrel was replaced back then. The single stage trigger is superb.

Mine does appear to have a short barrel, 23.25 inches from the back edge of the Nocks form, recrowned perhaps? The fore end is 27.5 inches from the front edge of the butt socket.The forward part of the fore end is 10 inches long from the front edge of the barrel band. Does anyone else have a range pattern MLE to check whether this is standard?

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